The Hotel New Hampshire

When I first read this book, many years ago, it moved me in ways I never thought a book could. It transported me, and still does, again and again and again. I grew to love the characters and cheer them on, cry with them, and dream of the life they led. Their stories have been a part of my life since this book was published. It's Mr. Irving's greatest and should I ever get to meet him, I will thank him. I'm not a total fan of all Mr. Irving's work and shouldn't be considered a slave to it. I speak only for this book where, for the time he took to write it, he connected with my and so many others. I could write volumes about this book. The sadness and death, the joy and perserverence, the love of family despite incredible hardships and outrageous happenings. Instead, however, I will encourage the person who is considering this book to keep and open mind and allow him/herself to be transported in a way only a REAL GOOD BOOK can do. Enjoy.

....I went to the bookstore, itching for something to new to read and stumbled on John "Garp" Irving's "The Hotel New Hampshire" in hardback sometimes in the late 80's. I was already good to go with Irving's penchant for bears, performers in bear suits, preppies, Vienna, hotels, wrestlers, circus acts, bizarre personalities and Dickens like stories and was well pleased with what he was starting to present here. And like I've said in relation to many, many items I've reviewed ..."you just have to be in that quantum packet..." The quantum packet I speak of here is one that is attuned to life, baby, life--and the human drama....So those who have already read THNH knows that the story takes an immediate, early change of direction .....yes, that's the one, the crash...and you find yourself pulling for the family Berry trying to move and grow and go on as always--except, these are unusual kids, an unusual family. And that "usual" for them would make Jerry Springer guests look normal...Let's say, they are not exactly a dysfunctional family--(Who has so called normalcy in their family anyhoos? Mostly folks in TV commercials and Make Space for Daddy style moovys and sitcoms of the 40s-50s-60s. And THEY had problems keeping it normal.)---but unusual, nonetheless. And, in all the kids adventures and misadventures and whatever effects being in this crazy hotel resort has....the father puts on a good showing. No, he doesn't, on second thought--he loses his sanity and goes along with things for the sake of the rest of the family. And Irving handles this quite subtly and endearingly and with that twist of that "whatever you want to call" thing it he does. The characters are like cartoons he's created that eventually become more and more real and more human to us the more we stay with them and their idiosyncratic turn of events. Irving's other great talent is in making the reader wanna cry and laugh at the same time....Anyway, this story sure did it for me, I was hooked--it was, needless to say, great reading for me. I found myself diggin' the man's style of literature and greedily, ravenously getting all his successive works. This and "The Cider House Rules" are my favorites of his to this day. I, however, enjoy reading and rereading them all...do yourself a favor and try Irving out!

With The Hotel New Hampshire John Irving wrote one of his best books and one of my personal favorites. Although in every book several themes return (we already read about rape, wrestling and Vienna in The World According to Garp and the transsexuals from this book can also be found in A Son Of The Circus and the bears... well, you got the point now, I suppose), every work of John Irving is original, surrealistic and moving.John Irving writes about people. And whether he writes about Owen Meany, Dhar or The Watermethod Man, he writes about life. All his characters are in a way eccentric and bizarre, but always understandable and just normal people. Irving describes their lives, their thoughts, their emotions and so tries to find the meaning and purpose of our own lives. Irving's books are in that way portraits, but not just portraits. It are portraits of colorful people, absurd, but still in a way being like us. We can see ourselves in the eyes of Irving's main characters. And that's, beside his wonderful writing style and humor, what I like about Irving and especially about "The Hotel New Hampshire", a fresh and imaginative dive in the wonderful world of John Irving.

Este es uno de los mejores libros de John Irving. Yo lo considero a el uno de los mejores escritores contemporaneos norteamericanos. La historia de esta familia es triste, comica, y increiblemente adictiva. Yo le recomiendo esto libro a todos mis amigos, y pare ser honesta yo siempre recomiendo todo lo que este escritor escribe.

First of all, I would like to express my outrage at the reader who was disappointed that Irving's books are formulaic. Sure, he does reiterate himself somewhat in his novels, but what author doesn't? The "one-liners" that emerge from the stories will stay with me for the rest of my life. Especially that wonderful line from The Hotel New Hampshire, "Keep Passing the Open Windows." I have read all of Irving's works, and although I hold a great deal of admiration for each one, The Hotel New Hampshire is definitely my favorite. Irving simply developed his characters better in this book than any of his others. The story in this book- though obviously borrowing some of the antidotes in Garp- is original and amusing. The best thing about this book is that it is funny. Sure, all of his books are, BUT this is the funniest. My only critique is that Irving did not develop Lilly as much as he could have. Regardless, I loved this book, and I highly recommend it to anyone in need of a good laugh and a wonderful story.